In Brief
A 2½-month-old baby died by drowning in a well while in the care of three family members. The trial court convicted all three—Arup Sarkar, Tapan Sarkar, and Binapani Sarkar—under Section 302/34 IPC for murder based on circumstantial evidence: strained family relations (the child was female), their evasive replies, and their presence at home. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and acquitted all three, holding that Section 34 IPC (common intention) cannot rest on strained relations and evasive replies alone without tangible evidence of a specific overt act or pre-arranged plan by any accused. The failure to examine available material witnesses further undermined the prosecution case.
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